


Lines of communication

by TetrodotoxinB



Series: Whumptober 2020 [30]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Bruising, Coda, Episode: s04e02 Red Cell + Quantum + Cold + Committed, Ignoring an Injury, Post-Relationship, Whumptober 2020, broken ribs, day 30, wound reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:28:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27284209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TetrodotoxinB/pseuds/TetrodotoxinB
Summary: After the fight with the people holding General Acosta's family hostage, Desi hides the damage.
Series: Whumptober 2020 [30]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947493
Comments: 10
Kudos: 22
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Lines of communication

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Secret_Library98](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Secret_Library98/gifts).



> Many thanks to [aravenwood](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aravenwood/pseuds/aravenwood) for her extreme kindness in being willing to beta all of these whumptober fills! Especially so since she's also writing her own (amazing!) fics too! Please go check her out and give her some love!!!

“Desi, are you… _limping?”_ Bozer asks incredulously, and Mac can’t help but stare at his replacement overwatch. 

Desi glares at him out of the corner of her eye and ignores the question. “Now that the deployment of the weapon has been stopped, what are we doing about the guys who tried to set us up?”

Matty rattles off intel and orders, dismissing them once they’ve received their assignments. But Mac just watches Desi. Bozer was right in that she favors one side. It’s subtle, but it’s there.

*****

Mac doesn’t get much of an opportunity to check in with Desi over the next couple of days. They’re still working out the kinks after everything sort of imploded. Okay, well maybe that’s generous. She still hates him. Which is of course her prerogative, and Mac’s not trying to make her feel any sort of way about him so long as she’s not homicidal in his general direction. Still, she’s a teammate and a person and she’s obviously in some sort of pain. 

“Hey, isn’t that the shirt you wore yesterday and the day before?” Riley asks. “Did you buy it in bulk?”

Clearly Riley means it as a jest, but Mac has seen Desi’s wardrobe, though not recently. He knows that she only owns the one shirt with that cut, but he keeps his mouth closed. 

“Haven’t had time to change,” she explains briskly. 

Ever since the Phoenix and then their relationship fell apart, she’s been cold and distant. But Mac sees now it’s not just him; she’s that way with all of them. It’s both relieving to know she’s just like this, but frustrating because they’re supposed to be a team. 

Either way, no one calls Desi out on her bullshit, despite the fact that everyone has a go-bag with several changes of clothes in their Phoenix locker. Desi’s just the only one who hasn’t changed and Mac can’t figure out why that is.

*****

The next day Desi is wearing a different shirt, but it’s a button up and clearly just off the rack. Definitely not her typical style. But Mac knows better than to comment, and given everything going on it’s hardly important.

“Okay, Bozer and I will go in the front posing as customers; you two take the back,” Riley says, pointing to a blueprint she’s pulled up on her rig. 

Desi looks at Mac, her expression unreadable as she holsters her weapons. It’s impossible to know where they stand at any one moment and he hates it. Relationships are hard enough to figure out — people get emotional and want things they don’t ask for and somehow Mac is supposed to magically intuit all of that stuff. He missed the signs of Nikki being a mole for months and then with Desi he just bungled the whole thing. They hurry down the alley behind the building, exchanging information with just a glance or a quick hand sign, and Mac wonders if this is the only sort of relationship he’ll ever be good at.

*****

They breach flawlessly and they’re uploading data to a specialized USB drive when someone stumbles in on them. 

“Shit,” Desi mutters.

Mac ducks as she levels her gun at the guy behind him. She pulls the trigger twice in rapid succession, both shots hitting center mass. Mac checks behind him but the guy’s chest doesn’t so much as twitch.

“How much longer?” she asks.

Mac taps on the keyboard to bring up the program they’re running. “Three more minutes.”

Desi groans and rolls her eyes. 

“Hey, this is Riley’s program. I can’t just make it go faster,” Mac says. He knows he’s being pointlessly defensive but she’s grating on him.

“Shut up,” she whispers loudly, and she motions with her gun hand for him to get low. 

Mac knows that the beginning of what is likely about to be a gun fight is not the time to have this conversation, so he ducks down behind the desk, peeking around the corner. It’s concealment but not cover so Mac justifies his curiosity because it may become imperative to get somewhere that provides more than just a nice layer of particle board between him and the people with the guns.

Moments later the room erupts in a hail of bullets. Mac puts the computer on the floor in hopes that it can keep running the download program without being blown to tiny pieces, and then he wedges himself behind a metal filing cabinet. It’s not a sure bet, but with the drawers full of paper documents, it’ll be enough to slow any incoming rounds which is better than nothing.

It only takes about thirty seconds before the bullets stop flying and Mac immediately climbs out. 

“Desi?” he can’t see her anywhere and moment by moment his worry ratchets up, until he hears a hoarse groan from the hall. Mac rounds the corner and finds her on the floor surrounded by the bodies of her opponents. 

“Shit, _shit._ Matty, we need medical. Desi’s been shot. I count three entrance wounds, all center mass. I repeat we need medical stat.”

The comms chatter to life and Mac rips the earbud out so that he can focus. “Desi, hey, talk to me.”

She’s breathing but it's labored, and whatever she’s trying to say won’t come out. Mac tears the blouse open, his fingers searching for the wounds but to his relief all three rounds are stuck in her slimline kevlar vest. Mac sighs, his head hanging a moment as relief washes over him. But despite their good fortune that Desi has not been made into Swiss cheese, there’s something very wrong.

Mac pulls at the velcro tabs on the sides of the vest, tugging to peel it away so he can get a good look at what’s causing this. Her face contorts into an unmistakable grimace and her hands push at his.

“Sorry, Desi. I promise I’m not trying to do anything. But I gotta see what’s wrong,” Mac says. He knows he sounds a little desperate, but relationship or not he doesn’t want her to die. 

The vest finally comes free and Mac slides it out from under her, tossing it to the side. The sight that greets him is definitely not what he expected. Her left side and chest are mottled black and blue and Mac can tell from the yellowing around the edges that it’s not a new injury either. If Mac were to guess, he’d say she’s got a couple of broken ribs and a few more that are bruised. The force of close range gunshots probably knocked the air out of her and jarred or worsened the injury.

Mac puts his fingers on her neck to check her pulse, and then puts his ear to her chest to listen to her breathing. There’s nothing to indicate that she’s about to expire, but the fact that she’s taking so long to recover enough to speak still has him worried.

Mac collects the earbud from the floor and reinserts it. “What’s the ETA on the ambulance?”

“Three minutes, and don’t take your earpiece out again, MacGyver,” Matty chides. 

“Yes, ma’am,” he answers automatically.

“Status update, or were you waiting on an engraved invitation?” Matty asks.

“All three rounds were stopped by her vest, but she’s got what looks like some broken ribs from a previous injury and she’s still having trouble breathing. I don’t think she’s in any immediate danger of dying but she does need to get checked out,” Mac relays. 

Desi, despite her obvious pain and inability to speak, glares at Mac meaningfully enough to threaten him with bodily harm once she’s physically able to do so. Mac just smiles and sits back to wait on their ride.

*****

The following week they all have to attend a mandatory training session entitled: “Physical, mental, and emotional health: Recognizing the signs of untreated problems in yourself and others.” 

Mac sits in the back with Bozer and Riley. Desi sits nearby, chatting with some of the guys from the tac teams, and acting as though she wasn't the literal impetus of this workshop. 

As training seminars go, it’s rather unilluminating. It’s nothing they haven’t been told a hundred times before and couldn’t have figured out with an ounce of common sense. Still, Matty apparently subscribes to the employee management method of publicly shaming those who prove themselves to be complete idiots in the field. Desi accepts her place as example number one of what not to do with a smile and a gracious wave of her hand. Everyone has a good laugh, and when it’s all over they get sandwiches which sorta makes up for having to go to a training seminar.

Mac and Bozer are eating their sandwiches and talking about his folks back home when Desi comes up.

“A word?” she asks.

Bozer snags his sandwich and heads over to sit with Riley.

“What’s up?” Mac asks.

“I’m not mad,” Desi says, her voice pitched like she’s giving out apologies. 

Mac had apparently missed her being mad entirely, but at least she’s past it. “That’s… good, I think.”

She narrows her eyes and glares at him for a moment. “You were just worried.”

Finally, Mac gathers the thread of the conversation. “Yeah, I really thought I was going to have to watch you die there for a minute. Scared the hell out of me, to be honest.”

She nods. “Scared me, too.”

Mac nods and picks at his sandwich. “About taking off your shirt. I wasn’t-”

“I know,” she says understandingly, and it’s the first civil word she’s spoken to him since they’ve been back. “You were just doing whatever your brain was telling you to do. Gather information, problem solve. Typical Mac stuff.”

Mac chuckles. “Yeah, basically.” 

She nods. “So I guess I won’t hold it against you that I’m benched for the next two months since you outed my secret.”

Mac opens his mouth to protest because really there was no way she wasn’t taking a trip to the ER after that. But Desi smiles and laughs, and Mac closes his mouth. One he’ll understand humans, but today clearly isn’t going to be the day.

“Anyway, I’ll see you around,” she says, taking her sandwich with her.

“Yeah, see you around,” Mac answers.

He sits back and thinks over the conversation and comes to the conclusion that she’s just as baffling now as she always was. Most relationships seem that way. He hopes that even though they don’t work out as partners, maybe they can work out as friends. At least they’re off to a positive start.


End file.
